BioRealm Receives $1 million NIDA Award to Launch the Smokescreen® Genotyping Array for Research on Tobacco Dependence and Treatment Approaches.

BioRealm, LLC announced it was awarded a USD1,000,000 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop and launch the Smokescreen® genotyping array for research on tobacco dependence and treatment approaches. The array uses Affymetrix’ Axiom® genotyping technology to screen over 600,000 genetic variants to support research related to nicotine addiction, smoking cessation therapies, and consequences of tobacco use.

Customers of Smokescreen will access their study data via a secure software application, built using the team’s statistical computing and genetics expertise. The software will feature automated quality control, data analysis pipelines, and the ability for researchers from different institutions to combine their data for powerful analyses.

During the two-year project, BioRealm will collaborate with top addiction researchers to develop a roadmap for future clinical products. “An important part of this project will be building a framework for biomarker development, which may classify smokers and suggest smoking cessation therapies based on individual characteristics, including genetics,” said Dr. James Baurley, Co-founder of BioRealm. “Our team will be developing state-of-the-art statistical methods that combine all available data to build predictive models. This includes biological information, existing study data, and Smokescreen data as it becomes available.”